Bored Of Battle
by Lygatto-Un-Sorceror
Summary: Frontier Brain Ash Ketchum is getting depressed at the calibre of the trainers that are coming to face him. When he's on a break, he loses it after watching the final round of a contest in the Unova Region, so jumps down to put the next generation to the test.
1. The Challenge Is Issued

There were two coordinators standing opposite each other. One, a thirteen year old boy with dark rose coloured hair and blue eyes called Jayce, was wearing black jeans, and a white muscle top under a navy blue, button up shirt that was hanging open, was standing with a Raichu in front of him. On the other side, was his twin, Lana, a black haired girl, wearing a pink cargo skirt and a white tee shirt that had a large blue plus sign on the sleeve, was standing with a Liepard before her. She was also wearing a white cap that had a pink version of the Pokémon League Symbol on the front.

"Raichu, use Thunder!" Jayce said, staring at Lana as he called out what ended up being the final attack. With Liepard on its back, there was no real need to confirm, but the judges all pressed their button, causing three red 'X's' to appear in front of their desks. The announcer said, "And with that, Jayce wins the…" but she stopped talking as she saw someone propel themselves over the edge of the grandstands. She said, "Hey! You can't jus…uhm…ahh…you're…"

The man that had spiky black hair grinned and said, "Yes. I am. _And_ …" he turned to look at both Jayce and Lana. "…I am _most_ disappointed in the pair of you."

"Uhh… _us?_ " Lana said, stunned that a Frontier Brain would know either of them.

"What do you mean by that?" Jayce demanded.

"Just that. I should think that anyone in the audience that had ever been to a contest before would be similarly disaffected by your showing here today."

"What do you…"

"So, how about _this?_ " he raised his voice and said, "Alright, people, what do you say about sticking around for an exhibition match?"

There were a number of questions on every audience member's lips. 'Who does this joker think he is', 'an exhibition match between two coordinators?' However, one audience member wasn't asking, or even thinking anything remotely similar. No. she was trying to shrink into herself as she thought, ' _Oh Arceus Ash! Why did you go and do that? I mean, sure, there was nothing particularly special in that, but even so, I thought that he wanted to keep low key on this trip. Well, so much for_ that _now!_ '

Jayce said, "Uhh…I don't know who you think you are, but you can't just jump down and ask for something like that. I'm pretty sure those type of things take time to organise. And, no offence, but I'm pretty sure that the one holding it has to be someone well known."

Lana's face fell, as blood rushed to it. She quickly said, "I'm so sorry! My dumbass brother doesn't know what he's talking about, Mr. Ketchum, sir!" she then elbowed her brother in his side, hard, saying, " _That_ is Ash Ketchum, the frontier brain of the Battle Theatre!" she then grabbed his head and forced him to bow, saying, "He's very sorry."

Ash smiled and said, "It's fine. It's not in this region anyway. Recognition aside, do you accept this offer?"

"Uhh…I don't mean to offend…"

"I've got quite thick skin."

"Then…you must be crazy if you think that _either_ of _us_ stand a chance against you."

"Hmm…okay, fair point. In that case, Ash grinned and looked to the announcer and asked, "Hey, Althea, can I borrow your mic for a second?"

"Sure, I guess," Althea shrugged, handing it over.

Ash said, "Thank you. Now…" He turned it on. He said, "Hello, one and all!" in a very theatrical way. "Now, I'm sure some of you recognised me, but for those who _didn't_ , I am Ash Ketchum, a Frontier Brain in the Hoenn Region. I'm sure you're all wondering exactly why I'm hijacking all of your time." Ash paused for a few seconds to let what he'd said sink in and for the laughs to peter out before continuing. "Well, the reason I'm in this region is private, but for today, the Contest Hall in the Desert Resort will play host to the Battle Theatre!"

In the stands the audience let out a loud cheer, it not being every day that they got to see both a contest _and_ a frontier challenge. May, for her part, thought, ' _Well, he did always have a flair for the dramatic._ '

Ash turned to the two coordinators and said, "So," and nodded at the audience, "they seem pretty keen to see this."

Lana sighed and said, "You're not really giving us much of a choice here, are you?"

Ash grinned and said, "So I'll take that as a yes then?"

"Yes," Lana resignedly said.

"Alright!" Jayce happily cried, I get to take down a Frontier Brain!" Lana clapped her hand over her eyes and shook her head.

Ash brought the mic up to his mouth and said, "Alright, they have accepted the match, so now, I'll tell you how it goes in my Facility. There are three rounds of land, sea and sky. Now, since we're here, in a contest hall, I'm going to have to change it around a bit, so it will be a series of double battles, still sticking with the same land, sea, and sky themes. _Also_ , to even it up a bit, I'll be using one pokémon during the matches."

"Hey!" Jayce said, "Don't you think that you're underestimating us just a little bit too much there?"

"No," Ash said. "Like your sister said, Jayce, I am _far_ more experienced then either of you, _and_ , because of that, my pokémon are also far stronger than yours. I _expect_ you to come up with a way to deal with that."

"And if we don't?"

"Then you should give up on your journey now."

That comment took Jayce by surprise, and it angered him. " _Fine,_ just give me thirty minutes. I need to transfer some pokémon over."

"Take an hour," Ash said, before turning to Lana. "You go with him." He then brought the mic up to his mouth and said, "Alright, I've given them an hours respite, so please, use the time how you see fit, but for those interested, I'll be in the foyer for the next thirty minutes if anyone wants to ask me any questions, that _don't_ involve why I'm in the Unova Region."

Ash then left the field at a far more sedate pace than Jayce and Lana had as they raced through the building, headed to the pokémon centre. When they got there, Jayce immediately went over to the pokétransfer system and started dialling up their hometown. Before he could press call though, Lana grabbed his wrist and said, "Jayce, what do you think you're doing?!" a concerned look on her face.

"What does it look like? I'm contacting Mum and having her send over some of my pokémon."

"Oh, and which ones would they be, exactly?"

"Which ones? Well, obviously I'm going to need Huntail, Charizard and Gigalith. What are you choosing?"

"I'm not choosing _anything_ yet!"

"What? Why not?"

"Think about it Jayce. Why do you think he gave us an hour to get here and back, when it only takes five to get here?"

"Beats me."

"Besides, that aside, _Huntail_ , really? On a stage field?"

"What's you poi…ohhh…right. No water, huh?"

"Yeah, ya think?" Lana sarcastically remarked.

"Maybe I'd better go with Poliwrath then?"

"Are you asking me, or telling me?"

"What's your problem, sis'?"

Lana sighed and said, "Look, even if it _is_ two on one, we're going up against a _Frontier_ Brain. We _need_ a strategy. _That_ is why he gave us an hour."

"Oh? So, what's this brilliant strategy of yours?"

"I don't know yet. What I _do_ know, is that the pokémon centre has an internet connection."

"An…oh, wait. Isn't that…you know, cheating?"

" _No_. Knowing your enemy is the first step to defeating them."

Jayce bluntly replied, "Didn't help you just now." Lana grunted in irritation, thinking on the ribbon that she'd just lost to Jayce. Jayce sighed and said, "In any case, I suppose I could wait a while before contacting Mum."

Lana sighed and shook her head, thinking, ' _He can never just admit when he's wrong, can he?_ ' She then led the way to the centre's computer and navigated to the Battle Frontier's website. They spent the next twenty minutes watching some of Ash's previous battles, getting more and more concerned about their upcoming battle. When they were done, Lana sighed and said, "Well I don't think that your plan to use Gigalith will end very well."

"Why not? He's got the best defence out of all of my pokémon, and its attacks aren't exactly weak you know."

Lana sighed and said, "Jayce, you saw what I did, didn't you?"

"Yeah. What about it? He's got one himself, so what? None of its attacks are the same as mine."

"Well, _yes_ , but the sheer fact of the matter is that since he has one himself, he will also know all of the weaknesses of a Gigalith, _and_ how to exploit them. That means that Gigalith is out. And most of his pokémon have a great deal of speed. The same goes with Charizard."

"Well, I don't really have any choice in the matter there, Charizard _is_ my only flying type."

Lana sighed and said, "Well, that's true enough too."

Jayce asked, "So, who are you going with?"

Lana sighed and said, "I'll go with Flygon, that's a pretty good matchup with your Charizard, and it knows some bug type attacks that can be used to empower Charizard's flames. For the water field, like you and Charizard, I've only Golisopod as my only water type, luckily _it_ is amphibious," poking fun at her brother's earlier mistake. Jayce grunted in irritation, even as he accepted the point. As for my landed pokémon…I think I'll go with Chandelure."

"Chandelure? Not Aggron?"

"No. Like I said, all of his pokémon are really fast, so I'm going to try and deal with that with my defence. On top of that, in most of his 'land' battles, he makes use of one or more fighting types."

"Again, Aggron has more defence than Chandelure."

"Yes, but because of that, its _Special_ Defence is really weak."

"So what? You just said that he specialises in fast pokémon, so wouldn't that mean that they are more likely to be close combat types?"

"No. Some are, there is little doubt about that. But think about it. Raichu, Garchomp, Charizard, Talonflame, all are fast pokémon that can deal some pretty devastating _Special_ Attacks. That means that Special Defence will be just as important as normal Defence when going up against him."

"In that case, like you suggested, I'll forgo Gigalith and use Gallade instead."

"Kirlia evolved? When?"

"About a month ago."

"How?"

"I was fighting against Team Plasma and it stepped on a Dawn Stone."

"Really? That's odd."

"What is?"

"About the same time, I was fighting against them and Murkrow evolved too."

"Really? That _is_ odd. Well, either way, I think it's about time that we get those pokémon."

"Yeah. You're right," Lana agreed. They then went to the pokétransfer system and dialled the number of the Pokécentre in their hometown and, when a Nurse Joy appeared, Lana said, "Hey Mum."

"Lana!" Nurse Joy said, surprised to be getting a call so soon. "How did the contest go?"

"Jayce beat me," Lana snarkily said.

"Well, there's always next time."

"That's true."

"So…"

"We need you to transfer some of our pokémon to us."

"Alright, but why?"

"We were invited to an exhibition match against one of the Hoenn Frontier Brains after our match."

"Really? Who was it?"

"Ash Ketchum."

"Ash…well well well, what do you know. It's been a while since I've heard _his_ name."

"It's been a…what do you mean, Mum?"

Nurse Joy smiled and said, "When you get back there, tell him that Marnie says hi for me, will you?"

"Sure, but…"

Nurse Joy smiled and said, "He'll know what it means."

"Well, if you say so."

"I do. Now, which pokémon would you like?"

Lana said, "I'd like scrafty, Flygon and Golisopod."

"And I'd like Charizard, Gallade and Poliwrath, if that's okay," Jayce piped in, getting annoyed that his mother had only been addressing his sister since the phone call had started.

Nurse Joy smiled and said, "Sorry Jayce, I didn't mean to exclude you. It's just that your sister usually only calls me from a Pokécentre once before calling me from the next, so I was surprised that she'd called me again is all."

"Oh. I see," Jayce said as he saw a smile appear on his sister's face that he _really_ didn't like."

Nurse Joy went away for a few minutes as she got the pokémon that her children had requested and, when she was back, she said, "I've got them now, well…you know what to do."

"Yeah," Jayce said, "We're already done."

"Okay, then in that case," Nurse Joy said, pressing some buttons from her console. "There we go, done." And keyed the transfer. There was a buzz and a bolt of some kind of energy that dematerialised their pokéballs shot from the top of the pokétransfer device and the exchange took place.

The twins said, "Thanks Mum, as they placed the pokéballs in the empty slots on their pokébelts before starting to cut off their communications with their mother.

Before they could though, Nurse Joy said, "One thing before you go."

"What is it?" Jayce asked.

"Be careful. Ash is a dangerous opponent to face."

"He's…" Lana said.

Jayce though, dismissively said, "We'll be fine Mum. You worry about us too much."

"I'm not worried about _you_ , Jayce. It's your pokémon that I'm concerned with. Ash Ketchum is The _Final_ Frontier Brain in the Hoenn Region."

"So what? He's still just another trainer in the end. Frontier Brain or no."

" _Jayce_. He _isn't_ 'just another trainer' the Final Frontier Brains are the leaders of a regions battle frontier, and the strongest of them all. Normal tactics _won't_ work against him."

"Good _bye_ Mum," Jayce said, cutting his mother off, annoyed by her lack of faith in them.

" _Jayce_ ," Lana said. "That was rude."

"I was annoyed at the lack of faith that she has in us, Lana, how could you _not_ be?"

"Because it wasn't a lack of faith, _Jayce_ , it was a warning, telling us to be careful. How is that any different to how she usually is with us?"

Jayce sighed and said, "Fine, I'll apologise later. For now, we _fight_." With that, he left the pokétransfer room and walked at a fast pace back to the contest hall. Lana walked at a slower pace, trying to come up with some kind of a strategy that would work, battling alongside her brother with the pokémon that they had chosen. She could come up with plan after plan for working together in the 'sky' round. Unfortunately, nothing was coming to her for either 'sea' or 'land'. When she realised that she'd stopped outside of the contest hall, she sighed and said, "Well, I guess there's no putting this off." And, with a look of resigned determination, she entered it. When she was inside she saw a lot of people gathered around and thought, ' _I guess this is that Q &A thing that he was talking about. Maybe I should stay here for a bit to see if I can find something out about his plans._'

As the idea came to her, she heard a voice say, "I wouldn't bother if I were you."

Lana looked up at the owner of the voice and saw that it belonged to her idol, May Maple. She blinked and said, "Uhh…I…uhh…you are…uhh…"

May looked at the one that would soon be fighting against Ash with a strange look on her face and asked, "What seems to be the problem?"

"I…I'm sorry!" Lana said, bowing at her waist.

"You're sorry? Why? This whole thing is Ash's fault."

"This whole…oh! No. Sorry, not _that_."

"Why are you apologising?"

"I'm sorry. Urk!" Lana exclaimed, a strange look on her face. Lana let out a calming sigh and said, "Sorry. I'll stop apologising now."

"Good," May said, smiling. Lana smiled weakly at May in return.

"So, uhh…why did you say 'I wouldn't bother'?"

"When he and I were younger he made the mistake of telling the Frontier Brain that he was about to battle the theory behind his battle strategies and got into a _really_ tough battle because of it. Now that _he_ is the Frontier Brain, do you really think that he'll make that mistake again?"

"I suppose not," Lana said. "In that case, I'll go on and have a last-minute strategy meeting with Jayce."

"Alright," May said. As Lana moved away, May said, "Oh! One thing."

"What?" Lana asked, stopping and turning to face May immediately upon hearing her voice.

"Just a word of warning, Ash uses contest moves."

"He uses…what? What are you…no. _Why_ are you telling me this?"

May smiled and said, "The goal of the _Battle Frontier_ is to 'expand the art of battle'. _Ash's_ goal is to face tough opponents. Unfortunately, those have been few and far between as of late."

" _That's_ all?"

"Well, that, and I _did_ try to stop this from happening."

"You did?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"Like you said, neither of you are strong enough to defeat him without help, and I'm not going to tell you how to beat him. I'll just give you this one piece of advice."

"What is it?"

" _Every_ trainer can be beaten, no matter _who_ they are, or what path they decide to take."

"Alright, thanks," Lana said, a far more confident smile on her face as she walked away, though it was also far from cocky.

XXXXX

Lana found Jayce in the competitor's waiting room and he said, "What took you so long sis'?"

"You're _not_ going to bel _ieve_ who I just met out in the foyer!" Lana excitedly said.

"You're probably right," Jayce agreed, having snuck in through the side door specifically so that he _could_ avoid the gathered throng.

"It was _her!_ "

" _Her?_ 'Her' who?"

"May Maple! She was there! _And_ she _ac_ tually talked to me!"

Jayce sighed, having been on the receiving end of more than one of his sister's rants about the wondrousness of May Maple. "So, what'd she say?" Jayce asked, hoping to get his sister ouit of 'fangirl-mode' as quickly as possible so that they could focus _entirely_ on their upcoming battle.

"She said that Ash Ketchum uses contest moves."

"What? She _knows_ him?"

"Yeah. Apparently they used to travel together a lot."

"Well, they _were_ both in Hoenn at the same time, so I guess it's not _that_ big a surprise."

"What? How do you know that?"

"How many times have you gone on about the majestic feats of May Maple?"

"A few, I guess."

"It's _more_ than 'a few', I assure you. "Then, when we were looking up to history of Ash Ketchum a while ago, I saw that he was competing in the Hoenn League at about the same time that she went to the Grand Festival for the first time. They were also both in the Kanto Region at the same time the next year."

"Is that so?" Lana asked, having been more focused on the pokémon that he'd been using at the time."

"Yes. _And_ they _both_ competed in the Wallace Cup at the same time too, when it was held in the Sinnoh Region the year after that."

"Am I _really_ that bad?"

"Not usually, though you _do_ have your moments."

"Like you're one to talk," Lana scoffed.

"What is _that_ supposed to mean?"

Lana clutched her hands together in front of her chest and twisted her hips as she said, "Oh Lance, Lance," in a mock-sycophantic tone.

"I…" Jayce sighed. "I have no excuse."

Lana grinned. "She also said that every trainer can be beaten, no matter who they are, or what their title is."

"See, I _told_ you that we could…"

"That _doesn't_ mean that it will be anything remotely resembling easy to accomplish though, _Jayce_!"

Jayce sighed and said, "You're right. What've you come up with?"

"Well…"

XXXXX

Meanwhile, Ash was wrapping up the Q&A session, saying, "And…I can take one more, but that really _does_ have to be the last one." He paused for a minute as he scanned the crowd until he saw a man that was holding a microphone that had a logo on it. He thought, ' _Well, I suppose it can't hurt to take a reporter's question. It could also serve as free advertising for the Battle Frontier._ ' He said, "Alright, you," pointing at the reporter, gaining many groans from the audience.

The reporter said, "I'm with PokéNow."

"Alright, go," Ash said. then he addressed the audience, saying, "If anyone has any pressing questions, that they want answered, or advice for their training, my travelling companion is standing in the back, and will either help you herself, or get you to stay back and I'll address your concerns after the battle. Now, Mr. Reporter."

"Thank you," the reporter said, truly grateful as he had seen the glares being levelled at him. "If I may, my paper would like to know a few things."

"I suppose that's fair," Ash said.

"First, how long will you be in the region for?"

"I'm planning on another two weeks, tops."

"Why only two?" The reporter asked, unthinkingly.

"I'm a Frontier Brain. Why do you think?"

"Of course, sorry."

"That's fine."

"Where will you be going after this?"

"Again, that is private information. Besides," Ash grinned, "if I told you _that_ , you and every other media organisation wouldn't stop hounding me until it was time for me to leave."

Everyone had a laugh at that as they knew it would be true. The reporter said, "Well then, in that case, why reveal yourself the way you did?"

"I told you all back in the arena. _Neither_ of those two deserved to reach the final. The only reason that they _did_ was _because_ there were multiple battle rounds. On top of that, their opponents had next to no experience in battle, focusing more on showmanship than training their pokémon."

"So…what you are saying is that you are using this battle as a way of training them?"

"Partly. However, it is also true that the Battle Frontier has recently been suffering a lack of worthy challengers. This will serve as advertisement, as well as a test to see if the future of the pokémon world holds any place for the art of the battle."

"Why these two then?"

"Honestly?"

"It would help."

"Right place, right time."

"Then…you didn't choose them because you sensed that there was something special about them then?"

" _That_ can only be determined through battle. It could be that there is. Of course, the opposite could also be true. Anything else?"

"Yes. Just one."

"What is it?"

"Will you be taking this match seriously?"

Ash got a strange look on his face as he asked, "Why wouldn't I?"

"Well…you just said that there wasn't any real reason that you chose them, and…well…they _are_ just kids 'n' all."

"I see. Then no. _I_ do not discriminate against, or underestimate my opponents.. doing so only disrespects them and their pokémon. Also, taking preconceptions into battle only diminishes what can beg achieved."

The reporter said, "It only…"

Ash said, "With that, this session is done," getting annoyed at the reporter's insinuations. "Will those that _are_ sticking around for the battle please return to their seats. Everyone else, it has been a pleasure meeting you." Ash then pushed himself up from the table that had been set up for him, and left the foyer, headed down the hallway that Lana had gone through earlier.


	2. Round One: Sky

Ash didn't go into the waiting room to tell the twins to get ready, rather, he did as he always did and headed out to the arena first, waving to the crowd as he left the hallway. When he was there, the Althea said, "And it would appear that the first one to arrive to the arena floor is the Frontier Brain, Ash Ketchum!" and the crowd cheered.

In the waiting room, the twins heard the cheers and Lana said, "Well, looks like he's out there."

Jayce smirked at his sister and said, "Come on then, what are we waiting for?" and cocked his head at the door leading out to the arena.

Lana smiled as she took a hold of her brother's hand, letting him help her up. she said, "Okay, let's do this!" and let go of his hand before walking from the room, looking forward with a look that Jayce had never seen before on his sister's face.

When they made their entrance, the twins were side by side, the same look of ambition on their face, Ash thought, ' _Oh? That's interesting. That look that Lana's got there…her brother is easy. His earlier outburst told me everything about him. He wants to be the best. That's all there is to it. Unfortunately, he also believes that he is already there, which is far from the case. But Lana…what does_ she _want? From how she acted earlier, her ambition must not be quite as high as Jayce's, which makes her far more grounded. A good thing for any trainer, even moreso for a coordinator. I had thought that she would need to be dragged out, but apparently not._ '

Ash was disturbed from his thoughts in the most brutal way as Jayce yelled, "Hey! Get your beady little eyes off of my sister!"

Ash looked horrified at the implication of what his young opponent's words carried. He said, " _Look_ you…" then he was surprised when he saw Jayce's sister turn and slap him, hard.

Jayce yelped and clutched his cheek as he turned to look at his sister and asked, "Lana, what did I…"

Lana exclaimed, "And exactly where _else_ , is he supposed to look, huh?" to the amusement of the crowd, and the relief of Ash. She turned to Ash and said, "Sorry, please accept my apologies for my brother's idiocy."

"That's fine," Ash said laughingly as Jayce visibly tousled over glaring at either him, or his sister. "But, before we continue, there _is_ one more thing that we need to address."

"What's that?" Lana asked.

"A referee for out battle," Ash said. "Luckily for us though, all accredited Nurse Joy's can also function as Frontier Referees."

"Really?" Lana asked, surprised that she had never been told that.

"Yeah. Why would I lie?"

"That's…not really important."

"Okay…then why ask the question if it wasn't important?"

Lana sighed and said, "Fine, my name is Lana Frances Adelle Joy."

Ash thought, _'Frances..._ and _joy? Is she…well, that can wait.'_ Ash said, "So, you're a Joy then?"

"That's right."

"Thinking of becoming a judge?"

"That's…" Lana said, a blue tone coming to her face, a depressed air rushing in around her.

"Uhh…I'm sorry?" Ash asked, confused as to exactly what was going on. In his attempt to calm his opponent down before their battle, Ash seemed to have said something rather amusing, as Lana burst into laughter, which also shocked her brother as whenever that had come up recently, she had been unable to come out of that state for hours.

When Jayce tried to find out what was going on, no more in on the big joke than Ash was, Lana brushed him aside, standing up, the confidence back in her gaze. She said, "I'll have to thank you for that."

"Okay, I'm not even going to _pretend_ to know what you mean by that," Ash said, "but if you say so, you can thank me in battle."

"I'm not going to try and attack my brothers pokémon, if that's what you mean."

"No," Ash laughingly said, "I mean, do your darndest to beat me."

Lana thought, ' _Do my…well, what do you know, May was right! That is all he cared about.'_ She smiled and nodded before stepping into the trainer box, at the same time as the Nurse Joy that was judging their contest earlier left her bench and walked to the referee box at the side of the field.

When she was standing there, Nurse Joy said, "Alright, this is my first time doing this, so you'll have to forgive me if I mess up."

Ash said, "No. The rules are simple. The side that has all of their pokémon lose consciousness first loses."

"I see. Then in that case…The Frontier Brain can go ahead and call out their pokémon," extending her outstretched hand towards Ash.

"Thank you," Ash said, "but before I _do_ , Lana, Jayce, remember what I said earlier."

"What you said?" Jayce asked.

If Ash was reading it right, Lana's face told him that she was just as lost as her brother. Ash said, "You get to choose the order of the rounds."

"Oh! Right!" and looked at his sister and asked, "Any ideas?"

"Hmm…" Lana said, thinking on what they had seen earlier. She quietly said, " _We're going to want to go with 'land' last."_

"Why?"

"Are you _seriously_ asking me that?" Seeing the blank look on his face, Lana sighed and said, "Jayce, most of his most powerful pokémon are land-based."

"Oh, right!" Jayce said, recalling that she was right, but he hadn't really taken note of that as they were watching.

Ash didn't help much when he said, "So, exactly what _were_ you doing with that hour I just gave you?"

"Hey, butt out! Do you want an answer or not?"

Lana sighed and shook her head. she said, "Jayce, ignore him. He's just messing with you," glaring at Ash, who just pointed at his chest innocently. Jayce eyed his actions and turned back to Lana, who said, "So, then it comes down to a matter of 'sea' or 'sky'. Which do you think we should go with?"

"Hmm…I suppose we should probably start off with 'sea'. That way we can save Charizard and Flygon for later."

"What do you mean 'save them for later'?"

"Come again?"

"This is a battle made up of three rounds. There is no 'save for later', there is only 'this round' and 'next round'."

"Okay, fair point. I still think that we should go with sea first. Poliwrath has Water Absorb, so any water moves used against it are going to be useless, and even if he does somehow overcome it, then we _know_ that we can handle whatever he throws at us."

"But by that token, wouldn't that put more pressure on us if we lose the first round? On top of which, if we give a strong showing, then he has _multiple_ dragons that can take to the air. In _cluding_ Garchomp!"

"Maybe, but you can only take _six pokémon_ with you, and I _doubt_ that he'd have thought that he'd need something that powerful on a _holiday_ ," his voice rising periodically.

Ash 'helpfully' said, "Actually, Frontier Brains have that limit removed."

" _See_ ," Lana said.

Jayce sighed and said, "So, you think that if we win the first round, then we have a better chance?"

"Yes. well, that said, this is all just sheer conjecture. I've never _actually_ competed in a format like this before. Are you good with that?"

"Yeah, sure," Jayce said. turning to Ash he said, "We choose Sky, Sea, Land."

"Alright," Ash said, grinning as he chose a pokéball from his belt. As he did he said, "Oh, just so you know, even if I _can_ take all of my pokémon with me, I still need to think about carrying them _on_ me too," looking at Lana, figuring that she would be the only one that would benefit from the information, based on what he had seen thus far. He thought, ' _let's see what she does with that._ '

Lana thought, ' _He…why is he telling me that? Does that mean that he_ didn't _bring Garchomp with him? If that's the case then, should we have…no. My point still stands, Jayce's Charizard and my Flygon should have no problems winning. The problem is if we get to 'Land'. But I can't think on that yet. Jayce 'n' I'll just have to cross_ that _bridge if we get to it._ ' She announced, "You're going to have to do better than _that_ , if you want to distract _me_."

Ash grinned and said, "Good," and threw a pokéball in the air. As he did, he said, "I choose you, Noivern!"

When the bat-like dragon pokémon appeared stationary in the air above the field, Jayce said, "The heck's that thing?"

"I _told_ you he had a penchant for dragons that can fly."

"That thing's a dragon?"

"Yeah. Noivern. It's from the Kalos Region."

"Well, either way, better not let Mum see that thing."

"Yeah, tell me about it," Lana said, possessing more than a fair share of her brother's confusion about their mother's obsession with purple pokémon.

Nurse Joy said, "The challengers will now release their pokémon."

Jayce said, "Alright, Soar, Charizard!"

Lana said, "I choose you, Flygon!" flipping her pokéball in the air as Ash had done, though when hers opened, fireworks got set off, thanks to the ball capsule that she'd put it in.

Ash raised his eyebrow and thought, ' _I wonder why she used a ball capsule_ now _? Hmm…actually, on second thoughts, no. I don't,_ ' as the crowd cheered

When the crowd died down, Nurse Joy said, "Alright, with that, the Frontier Brain will have the first move."

Ash didn't waste any time saying, "Noivern, use Hurricane!"

Jayce said, "Charizard, use Fire Blast!" The prongs of Charizard's Fire Blast locked against the winds of the Hurricane and seemed to hold it off, for about two seconds before it started to get pushed back. Jayce said, "Lana!"

Lana said, "Alright, Flygon, use Signal Beam and aim it into the eye of the Hurricane!" Flygon immediately fired a multi-coloured beam at the swirling winds, getting ignited by Charizard's flame on the way through.

Ash raised his eyebrow at the move, but calmly said, "Noivern, use Acrobatics." Noivern let out an acknowledging 'Noi' before it was surrounded by a blue energy, even as it kept the Hurricane going, pushing back the Fire Blast even further. Before it could go through though, there was an explosion, acting as a backburner, putting an end to their combination.

When the smoke cleared, the twins were surprised to see that Noivern didn't even have a scratch. Jayce exclaimed, "What the hell!? I didn't expect that to beat him, but that didn't even leave a scratch!"

Ash said, "I _am_ a Frontier Brain Jayce. If you want to stand a chance against me, you'll need to find a way around Noivern's defences. Well, that said, I wasn't expecting that combination that you two pulled back there. So well done on that. Also, the way you've trained Charizard is to be commended if it was able to hold off Noivern's Hurricane like that."

"Thanks," Jayce said. "Charizard, use Inferno!"

Lana announced, "Flygon, Bug Buzz!"

Ash thought, ' _Bug Buzz? Why's she using that now? That's just going to…_ '

Lana cut through Ash's thoughts when she said, "Then use Defog!" causing Flygon to start flapping its wings, which blew all of the spores over towards Ash's field.

Ash ordered, "Noivern, use Boomburst!" Noivern's ears glowed white as it fired a blast of powerful sound waves, making a path through the massive wall of flames, which it flew through, only to be met by two glowing green tails, courtesy of Charizard and Flygon.

Seeing Noivern haphazardly falling through the air, Ash called out, "Noivern, dive at the ground!" Ash's strange order threw both siblings momentarily before Lana's eyes widened as she said, "Oh no! Jayce, use Chariza-!" but it was too late and Charizard was the victim of a tail smashing into its right wing as it glowed green. This time it was Charizard hurtling through the air as Noivern rounded on Flygon with its claws glowing the same green as its tail still was.

Lana said, "Use Dragon Claw!" and Flygon's own glowing claw clashed against Noivern's as Lana thought, ' _But how is that possible? Dragon tail should have disappeared by now!_ '

Then Lana heard Ash say, "Noivern, get back!" it did just in time as it saw a stream of blue flames shoot up from the ground at where it had just been. Lana looked over at Charizard and saw that it would be alright, but flying was out for the rest of the match. Her thoughts went straight back to the battle at hand as she heard, "Use Boomburst!" and saw it collide with Flygon, who fought to stay where it was, despite the pain.

Lana thought, ' _Damn it! This two versus one double battle format doesn't benefit_ us! _It's more advantageous to_ him _, because_ he _only need concern himself about giving orders to and tracking one of his pokémon, while_ we _need to deal with him whilst not presenting as a liability to our partner!_ ' She accused, "You knew before this started, didn't you?" glaring at Ash.

"'I knew'? What do you mean?"

"This format that you proposed. It only makes it tougher for us!"

"Whatever _do_ you mean?" Ash asked, oh-so-innocently.

" _We_ need to concern ourselves with what our partner is doing, while _you_ are free to concentrate entirely on the match!"

Ash smirked and said, "I'm surprised that you realised that Lana."

"Why's _that_?" Lana asked, feeling that he was taking a dig at her intellect.

"All of the others that have chosen this format never figured that out."

"How often do you do this then?"

"Normally it's only as a special prize for some competition, or to spruik the Battle Frontier in a new region, so not all that often."

"I see," Lana said, sighing in relief as that meant that they still had a chance.

"Why do you sound relieved?" Ash asked.

"Because, that means that your experience with this format, is limited, even if you do have more than us." Lana grinned and said, "Which means that we can still win."

"Of course," Ash said. " _That_ has always been a possibility."

Lana didn't know this, but she thought, ' _No matter how slim it is,_ ' at the exact same time as Ash did. She said, "Flygon, use Signal Beam!" causing Flygon to let fly with a multi-coloured beam at Flygon. It was ignited by a blue flame coming up from the ground as it rushed at Noivern, the beam double the size.

Ash raised his eyebrow and said, "Noivern, use Hurricane." Noivern flapped its wings towards the oncoming stream of flame and actually blew it back. When it came into contact with Flygon, it was surrounded by an intense flame. When he saw what happened, he thought, ' _So, supercharging Signal Beam with Inferno adds Inferno's burn effect, does it? That's good to know._ '

Lana cried out, "No! Flygon!" visibly distressed at the fact that her Flygon was actually burned.

Ash said, "Noivern, use Draco Meteor."

Jayce, not concerned about Flygon's getting burned, heard what Ash had said, and said, "No!" knowing that his pokémon wouldn't be able to avoid what is quite possibly the most powerful non-self-harming move in existence. He closed his eyes in regret as Noivern's chest took on an orange glow. Almost immediately, an orange orb formed in Noivern's mouth and shot into the air above the arena floor.

Jayce said, "Lana!"

Lana looked at her brother and said, "What?"

"Look up!" Jayce said, but it was too late and the orb split into many different orbs that fell to the ground. Flygon did its best to avoid them, but its burn played up and the meteors connected. Not long after, Charizard joined Flygon in its unconscious state on the ground. Luckily, once it was knocked out, Ash ordered Noivern to catch Flygon before it hit the ground and got more injured than it already was.

Nurse Joy said, "Both of the challengers' pokémon are unable to battle, the round goes to Frontier Brain Ash Ketchum." While Lana and Jayce congratulated their pokémon for their efforts, Nurse Joy turned to Ash and asked, "Wasn't that a bit excessive?"

"What do you mean?" Ash asked.

"Using a move like _that_?"

Ash sighed and said, "Look, this is a battle for me, just as much as it is them. If I don't do my best to push them, how can I say that I'm doing my job?"

"Well, _may_ be, but even so…" Nurse Joy looked at Ash's opponents.

Ash sighed and said, "No matter what, they will likely come across Draco Meteor at some point during their careers. It's better to see such moves early on. That way they will be better able to deal with it in the future. Es _pecially_ if they want to take on the Battle Frontier."

"But this _isn't_ the Battle Frontier! This is just an exhibition match."

"There may not be a symbol on the line here, no. That does however _not_ mean that this _isn't_ a battle against a Frontier Brain, and I will do my job, no matter what."

Nurse Joy sighed and said, "Fine, in that case, as agreed, the next round will be 'sea'."

As Ash had conversed with Nurse Joy, Jayce exclaimed, "What the hell just happened?!" to Lana.

Lana sighed said, "He said it before Jayce. It's this format. _We_ need to keep track of what the other is doing whilst still telling out pokémon what to do, splitting out concentration three ways."

"Well, sure, but he's still got to deal with two pokémon, that means that his concentration is split too."

"Yes. You are right. However, if he was using two pokémon, the same as us, then the advantage would lie with us, because we could just deal with one pokémon each, while he would need to deal with two, giving us the advantage. However, because he only needs to give orders to one pokémon, even if he _is_ fighting against two pokémon, there is only one attack that he needs to deal with at a time, lessening the burden that he has to deal with."

"Isn't that…you know…cheating?"

"No. _We_ set the rules for that, so we only have ourselves to blame."

Jayce sighed and said, "So, any ideas how we should deal with the next round? I mean, we _should_ have had that last round in the bag."

Lana sighed and said, "I know. I only ever considered that Garchomp would be the greatest threat that he could send against us in the air. Who knew that there are other dragons just as strong."

"To be fair though, even his Charizard is supposed to be a lot more powerful than the norm."

"What! How do you…"

"I looked up notable Charizard trainers when I first got Charmander to look for hints on how to raise him."

"Wait. You _knew_ that he had a super-strong Charizard and _still_ thought that we would have a chance using your Charizard?"

"Well, yeah. I mean, even if his _was_ on the list, it was still about twentieth, and I based mine around those in the top ten. So I didn't see any problem with it."

Lana sighed and said, "Jayc-ce…" tugging down on the brim of her cap. She sighed again and said, "Anyway, we've got our plans to deal with water types. The only adjustment that I can think of is that we should probably try and do this individually rather than rely on combinations like we just did in this last round."

"Individually? Why?"

"May told me that he uses contest tactics. We didn't really see much of them in the last round, however, this is an amphibious round, which can easily lead to a greater reliance upon them. With that in mind, if we both use them, then he has to deal with two sets of combination moves with one set of his own, turning the advantage that he had over us in the last round, into our advantage this time."

"Oh. So you want to turn the tables then?"

"Basically."

"Alright. Sounds like a plan," Jayce ginned.

"Well, it's not really a _great_ plan, but it's as good as I've got," Lana said, an apologetic look on her face.

"It's fine," Jayce said as he looked back over the field.

When he saw Lana looking at him, Ash asked, "You two ready now?"

"Yeah, we're good to go," Jayce said. Lana nodded, silently echoing her brother's sentiment.

Ash said, "Alright then, Nurse Joy?" looking at the Nurse Joy, prompting her to get the second match underway.

Nurse Joy nodded and said, "Alright." Then, louder, she said, "The Second Round will now begin. The theme for this round is 'Sea'. The Frontier Brain will release his pokémon first." She raised her hand, closest to Ash to the side, visibly indicating that he would go first.

"Alright," Ash said, "I choose you…"


	3. Round Two: Sea

"…Floatzel!" Ash announced, and threw Floatzel's pokéball out over the field. When it started to fall downwards, a blast of water exploded out from the ball before being blasted in all directions by sparks of electricity, which Floatzel, in the middle of them, punched and kicked, causing the sparks to jump from one droplet to the next, resulting in a sphere of electricity surrounding Floatzel, which just stood there, calm and unaffected by it.

Jayce grunted and said, "You know that this ain't a contest, right?"

Ash cryptically said, "Isn't it?" with a raised eyebrow.

"Of _course_ it isn't! This is a _trainer_ battle!"

Lana warningly said, "Jayce," thinking on what May had told her when she met her in the foyer before the match began.

"…you know…where you try 'n' beat the opponent by defeating their pokémon in battle."

"I see," Ash said. "You are unaware then."

"I'm 'unaware'?!" Jayce exclaimed. He asked, "Of what?"

"It would appear that you have even more to learn than I'd thought, Jayce."

"What is _that_ supposed to mean!?" Jayce demanded.

Nurse Joy interjected before Ash could answer, saying, " _Now_ , Jayce will release his pokémon, followed by Lana."

"Alright, fine," Jayce said, not entirely(at all) satisfied with their half-finished conversation. He announced, "I choose you, Poliwrath!" as he threw his pokéball out over the field. A blue, muscular, fighting type appeared on the field opposite Floatzel.

After Jayce had caught his pokéball and returned it to his pokébelt, Lana called out, "Go, Golisopod!" and flung her pokéball out over the field, though _this_ one didn't have a ball capsule attached to it.

At the reveal, Ash said, "So, you've been over to Alola, have you?"

"I haven't, no," Lana said. "My aunt gave me this 'ere Golisopod for my birthday one year, though it was a Wimpod at the time. Why? Have _you_ been there?"

"I see," Ash said, thinking, ' _Then I won't need to watch out for any of_ them _, then._ '

Nurse Joy said, "Since this is a battle with a Frontier Brain, he will call his move first." She paused for a second. "Let the Sea Round begin!"

As soon as he had the go ahead, he said, "Alright Floatzel, use Brine on Poliwrath." When the stream of water hit Poliwrath, it slid back, about a metre, before coming to a stop, at which point Floatzel let go of its attack and Ash saw a blue aura generate around Poliwrath and thought, ' _So, it_ does _have Water Absorb then? That's going to make this battle annoying, but far from unwinnable._ '

Jayce said, "Alright, that was great Poliwrath! Now, use Dynamic Punch!"

' _Dynamic Punch?_ That _could be problematic,_ ' Ash thought as Poliwrath lumbered forward. When it was close, Ash said, "Inflate it Floatzel!" With a grin, Floatzel's yellow live vest thingy expanded, intercepting Poliwrath's fist, but, Golisopod came in from behind with a Razor Shell and tore right through it, rendering it incapable of being used for defence for at least that rest of the match. Ash grunted in annoyance, but still respected the efficacy of Lana's attack. He said, "Floatzel, Sonic Boom," and Floatzel flipped on the spot and swung its tail at Golisopod, shooting many crescents of white energy at it. Every one of which made contact, it being far to slow to actually avoid any of them. That said, its defence was great enough that what damage that was inflicted, was negligible at best. ' _So, she focused on its defence as she was raising it. A rather standard practice when dealing with a slower pokémon. That aside…_ ' "Floatzel, use Aqua Jet!" Floatzel immediately shot away from the onrushing large stream of water, courtesy of Poliwrath's use of Hydro Pump.

Lana said, "Use Aqua Jet Golisopod!" and her pokémon was surrounded by water as Floatzel was released from its Aqua Jet.

Ash raised his right eyebrow and thought, ' _Oh? That's interesting. I wonder what she'll do if I…'_ he said, "Floatzel, make an Ice Aqua Jet with Ice Punch." Floatzel looked at Ash curiously, unsure exactly what he was meant to do as he hadn't needed to be given so minute instructions when was told to use Ice Aqua Jet for a _very_ long time. Seeing the look, Ash slightly nodded at the oncoming Golisopod. Floatzel nodded and activated Ice Punch, spinning the icy aura around its hand as Golisopod rushed at it.

As it did, Lana thought, ' _Ice Aqua Jet? That's that awesome move that Floatzel knows that covers it in a shell of ice. But I thought that Aqua Jet needed to be activated before…!'_ Her eyes widened and she exclaimed, "Oh no! Golisopod, _stop_!" but it was too late, Floatzel's Ice Punch had connected and the shell of ice had formed around Golisopod, trapping it as the block of ice slid to a stop.

Ash said, "Well Jayce, it looks like it's just you and me now."

"That's right, it is," Jayce said and grinned.

Ash asked, "What are you grinning about?"

"Now that Lana's out of the way, that gets rid of one of the obstacles."

"'Obstacles'? What do you mean by _that_?"

"You both said is in the last match. The rules used in this match increase the number of things that _we_ need to focus on during battle. Now that it is a one on one battle, we are on a level playing field."

Ash sighed and said, "If we are strictly talking about the rules, you _are_ right. How _ever_ …it is your go."

"Thanks," Jayce snarkily said. "Now! Poliwrath, use…" as Jayce started to give Poliwrath an order, he started making a bunch of strange movements, that not many in the arena recognised, that Poliwrath started mimicking.

Ash did. He thought, ' _Jayce can use Z-Moves!_ ' He also recognised the movements, making regular use of them himself, so he started making movements of his own, though they were distinct from those that Jayce was using, as did Floatzel.

Jayce finished first. He said, "Poliwrath, use Gigavolt Havoc!" A large ball of electricity formed in front of Poliwrath, which it punched to launch it towards Floatzel.

As the super-powerful move rushed at Floatzel, Ash and Floatzel finished _their_ stances and Ash said, "Z-Aqua Ring!" when he _did_ , Floatzel was surrounded by a net of water, which was thick enough to absorb the electricity of Gigavolt Havoc, completely protecting it from Poliwrath's attack.

Jayce's eyes widened at the feat before narrowing as he thought on what Floatzel had done after being released from the ball capsule. He demanded, "Was that a taunt, back at the start of the battle?"

"No," Ash said, figuring that Jayce was talking about the ball capsule that he used with Floatzel. "I see it as more of a warning."

"A warning?"

"That 'type', means absolutely nothing to Floatzel. That aside, I thought that you hadn't been to the Alolan Region."

"Lana went through the Decalora Islands while I was there."

"I see. So, how many do you have?"

"I've got Lightning, Ice and Bug. You?"

"It took me a little over a year, but I managed to get a full set."

"Seriously!?" Jayce exclaimed, knowing full well just how rare, _and_ difficult, it was to obtain even one, let alone a whole set of Z-Crystals. "Is _that_ how you became a Frontier Brain?"

"No. I was _technically_ a Frontier Brain for a very long time before I'd even heard of them."

While that was going on, Lana was thinking, ' _Z-Crystal? What the heck's_ that _? Maybe I should look into them._ Especially _if Jayce can pull of something like_ that _whenever he wants. But that can wait. What matters_ now _is that this is one fine mess that I've gotten myself into. How the heck am I supposed to get Golisopod out of there? Suppose that Razor Shell is really the only move that it's got that has any chance of breaking through that thing. However…'_ she sighed and thought, _'Well, I suppose that I don't really have much by way of choice in the end.'_ Then, she shouted, "Golisopod, use Razor Shell to break through it!" at the top of her voice in the hope that that would let her voice reach Golisopod through the ice. It did and Golisopod started hacking away at the ice.

Jayce, getting his head back in the battle, bit his lip as he thought, ' _Damnit! Gigavolt_ _aHaHH_ _Havoc didn't work! On top of that, I can only use it once and, given the number of Z-Crystals that_ he _has, he probably has enough experience to use multiple Z-Moves too! The only thing that I can think of that has any hope of winning, is to get it from behind with Golisopod. Even so though, that's easier said than done.'_ He tried to think of a plan that would get Golisopod out of the ice faster than 'sometime'. Unable to do so, he turned to Lana and said, "Hey sis, I think that we need ot get it from behind now that it can't use that life-vest looking _thingamajig."_

 _"Yeah, but that's not possible without_ _both_ _of our pokémon in play._ _And,_ _that Z-Aqua Ring is going to be problematic too."_

 _"Yeah, I suppose so. Any ideas?"_

 _"Keep on blasting it with ranged attacks."_

 _"With ranged attacks? Why? Gigavolt Havoc is the strongest move that I can use, and_ _it_ _was all but useless!"_

 _"Yeah. But, despite it's normal duration, that Z-Aqua Ring was probably really taxing on Floatzel, which_ _should_ _put a limit on its duration, or, failing that, drain Floatzel's stamina whenever it's activated, all of which create their own openings. Well, that's if it wasn't just a one-off effect anyway."_

 _"Alright," Jayce said. "Poliwrath, use Thunderbolt!" causing Poliwrath to rub its hands together before thrusting them at Floatzel. When it was about to hit, the same net as before appeared to intercept it, no smaller than the previous one._

 _Ash said, "Floatzel, use Rain Dance!" At the command, Floatzel raised its hands towards the roof of the arena and tapped its feet as it turned in a circle while, above it, what moisture was in the atmosphere, condensed into cloud and it started to rain down on the battlefield._

 _Lana's eyes widened and said, "That's not good."_

 _"What isn't?" Jayce asked. Rain Dance just empowers water type moves. That includes both of_ _ours_ _as well as his. It should also serve to get Golisopod back in the match sooner too."_

 _"It_ _also_ _works_ _really_ _well when a pokémon has the ability Swift Swim!"_

 _At this, Ash's lips twisted downward as he thought, '_ _So, she_ _is_ _the one coming up with all of the strategies then, is she?'_ _Then he thought over the last match and realised, '_ _Most of their 'combinations' were born from Lana working to augment Jayce's Charizard's attacks. Quite effectively at that._ _' He said, "Floatzel, use Ice Aqua Jet!" and it rushed at Poliwrath, surrounded by a horizontal column of water that turned into a shell of ice faster than either twin was expecting, even Lana, who had been expecting the increase in speed. When it hit Poliwrath, the ice shell shattered as Poliwrath was sent flying back. Eventually it got back under control and slid to a stop, only to receive an Ice Punch to the face almost immediately after stopping. When it came to a stop_ _this_ _time, it found that Floatzel hadn't moved, but was standing still, except for one arm that was pointing at it, waving its paw in such a way as if to say 'Bring it'."_

 _Poliwrath stomped its feet on the ground, annoyed at the impertinent water type, trying to challenge_ _it,_ _the_ _only_ _fighting type water pokémon to a fight if the dual ice punches were any indication and it rushed at Floatzel, activating two Dynamic Punches on its way. It punched at Floatzel with its right fist, but, before it connected, the net of water appeared, knocking its hand to the left and_ _it_ _off-balance, which Floatzel used to land an Ice Punch on its face, causing it to spin on the spot. It then spun and used Sonic Boom to knock its legs out from under it and punched the ground between its legs, freezing both of its legs to the ground with a large bock of ice. Suddenly, it heard Ash call out, "Floatzel, watch out!" as a blue streak made its way at a_ _very_ _fast pace Floatzel only had time to look at why he was being told to 'watch out', before it was hit in the back with a Razor Shell, as Golisopod let go of Aqua Jet before it made contact, unwittingly imitating one of Ash's favoured strategies with Raichu._

 _Lana said, "Use Razor Shell to release Poliwrath from the ice." Golisopod smashed the ice with its other hand. It also held out a claw to help Poliwrath up, who batted it aside and pushed itself up, its pride as a fighting type bruised by Floatzel, who was itself pushing itself up off the ground._

 _Floatzel made a show of brushing some dust off its bicep, mocking Poliwrath further. Poliwrath's eyes flashed and it saw red and ran at Floatzel once again. Jayce called out, "Poliwrath,_ _no!_ _" only barely able to break through his pokémon's ire. It looked at its trainer and let out a series of sounds, and Jayce said, "I_ _get_ _that. Believe me. But a physical fight_ _won't_ _work against Floatzel." Jayce waited until Poliwrath finished responding. When it was done, he sighed and said, "Yes, I_ _know_ _that there has never been any problems with that in the past, but Floatzel's trainer has_ _many_ _fighting types, and Floatzel has_ _clearly_ _had experience battling against them."_

 _Ash thought, '_ _So, he's clearly not_ _completely_ _oblivious._ _' He said, "Floatzel, get 'em_ _both_ _with Ice Aqua Jet!"_

 _Lana said, "Golisopod, use Aqua Jet and spin the water!"_

 _Ash thought, '_ _Oh? Let's see if she can do it…'_ _He said, "Floatzel,_ _up_ _!" and the ice-enclosed Floatzel changed into an upward trajectory._

 _Lana thought, '_ _Is he giving me a chance?'_ _She said, "Well, no matter. Golisopod, stop." Golisopod let go of its attack. She said, "Okay, doo it again, but this time spin the water faster!" Golisopod did as it was ordered and shot into the sky, headed straight at the ice shell already up there._

 _Ash called out, "Alright, come back down Floatzel!" and the ice shell turned around and started coming back down, straight at Golisopod._

 _Lana called out, "Golisopod, use Frost Breath!" and it let out an icy breath, which started to freeze the water around it as it neared the falling block of ice. It was_ _just_ _too slow though and Floatzel's Ice Aqua Jet broke through the half-formed ice shell, itself shattering as they both plummeted to the ground. Ash wasn't phased a bit as Lana bit her lip, trying to think of how to save Golisopod, other than by returning it to its pokéball, effectively retiring it from the match. Then she thought, '_ _Well, I guess it's really the only thing that I_ _can_ _do,_ _' and said, "Golisopod, use Aqua Jet when you're closer to the ground."_

 _As she did, Ash grinned and thought, '_ _Apparently there_ _is_ _a future for the Battle Frontier after all.'_ _But his thoughts quickly returned to the battle as he saw multi-coloured waves heading towards Floatzel and saw Poliwrath with glowing red eyes. He thought, '_ _Hypnosis!_ _' and called out, "Floatzel, use Countershield, now!" at the same time as Golisopod used Aqua Jet, now needing to do so to get out of the way of the Hypnosis. In the air, Floatzel was surrounded by a sphere of water that was rapidly spinning in many directions with multiple tongues of water whipping around it, knocking aside the Hypnosis. It had the added effect of slowing its fall thanks to some of the wild streams of water hitting the ground and, when the Countershield receded, it was barely half a metre off the ground and landed easily, taking no damage from the fall._

 _From where she was standing, near the entrance to the field, May thought, '_ _Well I'll be. I_ _never_ _thought that I'd see the day that a challenger would actually attempt to throw one of Ash's strategies back at him_ _during_ _the match that they first see it. And that Aqua Jet/Razor Shell combination looked familiar too._ _'_

 _On the field, Lana exclaimed, "Damn! I thought I had it there too!"_

Ash said, "You almost did."

"I don't suppose that you'll tell me where I went wrong?"

"The speed."

' _The speed? The speed of what? Frost Breath? The spin? Golisopod itself? I suppose that, for now at least, it doesn't really matter. That clash just now_ proved _that spur-of-the-moment, copied techniques won't work against_ him _, which means that Jayce and I really_ will _need to rely on our own strategies and techniques in order to finish this battle. And that Countershield poses issues of its own. It means that not only do we need to deal with that Z-Aqua Ring, but it also has a backup defence. I'm beginning to see why he said that type is meaningless. Which really begs the question of how many of his pokémon does that apply to. Well, I guess that that is_ another _inconsequential issue that will have to be dealt with later._ '

Ash said, "So Lana, are you going to try and throw Countershield back at me next?"

"Maybe later. That exchange just now told me that half-baked copies won't work against _you_."

"So then, show me what you've got!" Ash challenged, looking straight into Lana's eyes.

"Alright," Lana said, tugging down on her cap's brim.

Jayce ordered, "Poliwrath, use Thunderbolt!"

Ash frowned as he thought, 'Not _Gigavolt Havoc? Jayce must not have enough experience to use it repeatedly.'_ When the watery net absorbed the power of the lightning bolt, Ash said, "Jayce, that Poliwrath needs some serious conditioning."

"Conditioning? Why?"

Ash grinned and said, "Floatzel, let's show 'em."

"Floatz!" Floatzel said with a grin and a nod.

When Ash started moving strangely, Jayce's eyes widened and he exclaimed, "What?! Another one! It's not possible!"

Lana looked at her brother and asked, "What 'isn't possible'?"

"Using multiple Z-Moves in a single battle."

"Why's that?"

"It takes a lot of power to use just _one_ , and after the pokémon does, it gets seriously drained of energy. So using _two_ is just unthinkable!"

"Well _he's_ doing it, so it's clearly not _that_ unthinkable!"

"In any case, if we survive this, it'll be the perfect time to attack."

When Floatzel finished its movements, it spread its arms wide as Ash said, "Floatzel, use Hydro Vortex!" and it spun on its right foot, and a water cyclone surrounded it and moved forward towards the twins' pokémon, getting larger as it went.

When it was about halfway to them, Lana said, "Jayce, have Poliwrath stand next to Golisopod," as the large cyclone of water rushed towards their pokémon.

"Alright," Jayce said. "You heard her Poliwrath!" Poliwrath did as instructed and stood next to Golisopod.

When it was next to her Golisopod, Lana said, "Alright, now, both of you, use Protect!" they did so and, to the surprise of both Ash and Jayce, who were both aware that Protect, and other similar defensive moves, couldn't block Z-Moves in their entirety, it worked and they suffered no damage whatsoever.

Seeing this, Ash thought, ' _So, a double-layered Protect will actually defend against the entirety of a Z-Move, will it? That's good to know.'_ He said, "That was n interesting move Lana. Tell me, did you know that that would work, or was it a guess?"

"More of a hope really," Lana admitted before ordering, "Golisopod, use Aqua Jet, and Poliwrath, get in the stream!"

"Hey!" Jayce exclaimed, "Poliwrath is _my_ pokémon! As Poliwrath jumped into the stream of Golisopod's Aqua Jet.

"Sorry, just trying to expedite, bro."

Jayce grunted and said, "Fine, whatever," as if he didn't care. He did.

Lana said, "Golisopod, keep it up and use Max Razor Shell!"

'Max _Razor Shell?'_ Ash thought. ' _I wonder what it…oh…I see,'_ Ash finished as a multitude of watery blades emerged from the stream. ' _That…could be problematic.'_ He said, "Use Countershield!" and Floatzel spun on the ground, narrowly dodging Golisopod's blades, using Brine to generate the shield. When one of the tongues of water cut the Aqua Jet's stream, leaving Poliwrath to tumble to the ground, Ash said, "Floatzel, stop and use Ice Punch!" and Floatzel ran over to Poliwrath and went to punch it while it was down, but was prevented from doing so when its Z-Aqua Ring activated, defending against Golisopod's Liquidation.

Floatzel's eye twitched as it glared at Golisopod, which was why it didn't see it coming when he got hit from behind by Poliwrath's Gigavolt Havoc, just after Z-Aqua Ring had faded, knocking it out. Poliwrath also lost consciousness and fell to the floor, only barely able to pull off two Gigavolt Havoc's.

Nurse Joy said, "Floatzel is no longer able to battle! Jayce and Lana win this round," before rushing over to Poliwrath, as Ash did the same, both concerned as it was using a Z-Move that knocked it out. They slid down next to it at the same time and Nurse Joy started looking it over with the expert eye of a trained medical professional, noticing its heavy breathing. Ash was looking at it with _vastly_ different eyes. Eyes that were glowing blue as he read Poliwrath's aura. Nurse Joy said, "There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with it…" and blinked as she looked at Ash and saw his eyes. She said, "You're eyes. They're…."

"Yeah," Ash said, "Medically speaking, you're right…however…" Ash laid his right hand on the swirl on Poliwrath's chest and it momentarily took on the same blue glow that Ash's eyes had. When the glow faded, Poliwrath's breathing was back to normal, even though it was still unconscious.

Nurse Joy asked, "What did you…"

"Z-Moves use something called 'aura' to supercharge a pokémon's attack and the better conditioned a pokémon is, the more they tend to have. I just…refilled…enough of Poliwrath's aura that it was no longer in danger.

"How did you…"

"I can write some stuff down for you before I leave the town, though I'm not sure how much use it will be."

"That's _more_ than fine," Nurse Joy said.

"Good," Ash said as he stood up and took out Floatzel's pokéball and, as he walked back to his side of the field, returned it as he passed by. When he was back in his trainer box, he said, "You did good out there." Then he frowned as he looked at Jayce and said, "That was a _very_ dangerous thing that you just did, Jayce."

"Yeah. Is Floatzel okay?"

"I'm not _talking_ about _Floatzel_. I'm talking about _Poliwrath_."

"What do you _mean_? Poliwrath's fine."

" _Only_ because _I_ am the one that you did that against." Ash sighed and said ,"Z-Moves are _very_ draining Jayce. In more ways that you can _possibly_ understand."

Ash saw a strange look on Lana's face as he talked to her brother. She was thinking, ' _What was that that I felt just now? It's really odd. It's like nothing I've felt before, but still somehow…familiar? I don't get it. I feel like I should know what it is for some reason, but…_ ' she sighed and thought, " _Ah hell, who knows._ I _sure don't._ ' she got out Chandelure's pokéball, ready to begin the next round, now that there was actually going to _be_ a next round, as Ash lectured her brother on the dangers of using Z-Moves more times than a pokémon can handle, and the consequences on both the health of a pokémon, _and_ what it would mean for his future, including jail time for the mistreatment of his pokémon.


	4. Round Three: Land

When Nurse Joy was satisfied that Ash had 'educated' Jayce enough about the consequences of his actions in pushing a pokémon further than they could truly go, she cut him off, saying, "Alright. Now, please proceed onto the third match."

"Alright," Ash said. He thought, ' _Hmm…it seemed like Lana felt something when I was healing Poliwrath before. I wonder…_ ' he grinned and said, "I'll give you one warning, Jayce, Lana," looking from one twin to the other. "Type means less than nothing to this pokémon."

Jayce and Lana said, "Wha…" as Ash drew a pokéball.

Ash flung the pokéball out, over the field, saying, "I choose you, Lucario!" As Lucario appeared on the field, May bit her lower lip, concerned that Ash was starting to take the match a little _too_ seriously. "Now," Ash said in a dramatic tone, "Lucario," reaching his right hand forward, his eyes glowing blue. Lucario nodded and closed her eyes as her aura sensors rose up.

Lucario let out a loud, "Lu-caAAAAAA!" as it reached its aura out and merged it with Ash's. As this was going on, Lana fell to her knees, seeing the mass amounts of blue energies flowing between Ash and Lucario. She hugged her arms around herself as an immense fear settled in.

Jayce, looking to his sister when he heard a noise coming from her direction, exclaimed, "Lana! What's wrong?" rushing to her side.

"Th-th-tha…it…it's…impossible!"

"What? What's impossible?"

"What do you _mean,_ 'what's impossible' _?_ Can't you see it? _"_

"See it? See what? What are you talking about?" Jayce asked, unable to see the mixing energies.

Ash announced, "Lucario, Mega Evolve!" and Lucario was surrounded by a blue light that quickly shattered, revealing Lucario had done what should have been impossible, and managed to mega evolve with neither key nor mega stone." What confused Lana even more was that Ash's hair and eyebrows were now yellow with blue tips. On top of that, the locks hanging in front of his face now red.

Lana said, "It's…not possible!"

"Again?!" Jayce exclaimed. "What isn't possible _this_ time?"

"We can't beat Lucario."

"Don't be absurd! May said it herself, didn't she? Anybody can be beaten," Jayce said, hoping that the words of his sister's idol would break her out of whatever funk she had managed to get herself worked into.

"You don't understand! Lucario…it's…not about strength, speed or power! It's…it's…it can't be defeated!"

Jayce thought, ' _What the hell!? Nothing's strange about it at all, well, other than it Mega Evolving without the required stones being present that is. Even so, it's not…_ ' all of a sudden, Jayce clutched his head and groaned in pain.

From his side of the field, Ash blinked and thought, ' _This presence…it's…! But that's impossible! I subdued him years ago. How can he be back!?_ And _where?_ ' and his eyes started to flick around the stadium, searching for the source, wanting to believe that it was a coincidence that Jayce's headache chose that point to make itself known to him.

In a double-tone, Jayce said, "If you're not going to help, then I'll just have to do it myself! I choose Gallade!" and threw the pokéball onto the field. When Gallade took the field, it felt something _very_ off about his trainer and turned to look at him and saw his sclera darkening. Gallade extended his arm towards his trainer and his eyes glowed green as he reached into his trainer's mind and suppressed whatever it was that was trying to take over his trainer's mind.

Ash, seeing Gallade's actions, imperceptibly bit his lower lip and thought, ' _It's gone! Did Gallade just…if that was coming from Jayce, then…'_ Ash looked at Lana.

Lana, bristling with rage, slowly stood up, not looking up from the ground. But, despite her anger, her thoughts were completely clear. ' _Alright. In that video I saw, the Lucario that he used was able to use Water Pulse, Blaze Kick and Shadow Claw, so despite the fact that both of Chandelure's types are advantageous against a pokémon like Lucario, it wouldn't really do that much. So…'_ Lana reached for the brim of her hat and turned it the other way around, shocking Ash, and causing May's eyes to transform into fire as she glared at Ash's back. Lana announced, "I choose you, Scrafty!" throwing a pokéball out, onto the field.

Jayce exclaimed, "Hu-uhh?! _Scrafty?!_ Why?" and then, in a stage whisper, said, "I thought that the plan was to use Chandelure and Gallade to augment each other's attacks."

"It _was_ the plan, yes."

"But not anymore?"

"No. the first battle proved beyond any doubt that that is not a viable battle strategy to use against Ash, even when we _should_ have had an advantage. Lucario, is even worse."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know _how_ I know, but I just know that when it comes to his Lucario, strategy is irrelevant. It'll just shrug it off and keep on coming."

"You talk as if it's some kind of monster in the night."

"That's a rather good way to put it, actually," Lana admitted.

"What do you mean?"

"If we want to survive this battle, we'll need to throw everything that we have at it, and more. Come to think of it, this battle format suits the symbol that he gives out very well."

"What do you mean?"

"The Symbol that is handed out by the Battle Theatre, is the Adaptability Symbol. If the trainer is unable to adapt to the varying situations, then there is no hope for victory.

As Lana discussed the changing strategy with Jayce, Ash thought, ' _Oh? This_ is _interesting. She's completely abandoned their previously conceived strategy this time, has she? And gone with a Scrafty of all pokémon._ ' He smiled. ' _This is_ certainly _going to be a different battle to either of the previous rounds. I wonder if…_ ' in a loud voice, he said, "Can I ask you both a question?"

"Sure," Jayce said, not really caring.

Lana, did. She replied, "It depends on what it is."

"Why did you choose to take the path of a coordinator?"

"Why?" Jayce asked.

"I'm just curious about it. that's all."

"Well, if we're being honest about it, for me, it's more just for the experience," Lana said, to which Ash raised an intrigued eyebrow.

Jayce grunted, having always taken issue with his sister's reasoning. "It's to hone my skills as a trainer," Jayce said. He thought, ' _And so I can bring Lana to her senses._ '

Ash, looking at Lana said, "I'd like to talk to you about that after this round, if that's alright?"

"Sure, I guess," Lana shrugged.

Ash turned to Jayce and thought, ' _He was telling the truth when he said that it was to hone his skills, but he left something out of it. It wasn't a total fabrication, but still…_ ' he sighed and said, "Alright. This time I'll give you the first move."

Jayce said, "Fine, Gallade, use Shadow Sneak!"

Gallade sunk into its shadow, which quickly rushed across the field. As it did, Ash said, "Lucario, wait until it starts to appear and use Feint." Lucario nodded.

After Ash finished giving his order, Lana said, "Scrafty, use Dark Pulse!" seconds later, spiralling dark rings appeared in front of Scrafty's before they shot out in a beam. It was aimed in such a way that it would inflict a glancing blow if it stayed where it was, so that, if it did move, the beam wouldn't hit Gallade. However, the order came too late.

As the rings neared Lucario, Gallade appeared out of the shadow, aiming a punch at Lucario, but it did as it had been ordered and appeared behind Gallade almost immediately. When it was, Ash said, "Use Aura Sphere!" Lucario gathered up a large amount of aura instantaneously and fired it at Gallade's back, sending it into Scrafty's Dark Pulse.

Gallade, being part fighting type, took only a regular amount of damage from the Dark Pulse as Lana looked at Jayce apologetically, saying, "Sorry about that!"

"It wasn't your fault," Jayce replied.

"I know. But even so… I aimed it so that it would avoid Gallade!"

Jayce said, "It doesn't matter. Gallade, use Psycho Cut!"

Ash merely said, "Lucario, Bone Rush." After receiving the order, Lucario generated a glowing blue bone between its hands and batted the psychic blades that were coming from Gallade aside as it advanced.

As it did, Jayce quietly said, "Lana, I've got an idea. Can you lure it in?"

Lana said, "It better be better than your last one," and said, "Scrafty, use Thunder Punch!"

Ash said, "Lucario, use Drain Punch!" causing Lucario to rush in, its arm surrounded by swirling blue energy.

When it was about halfway, Jayce said, "Now, Gallade, use Psychic!" Gallade extended its arm towards Lucario, its eyes glowing green. A green aura appeared around Lucario and it raised into the air.

Ash thought ' _Psychic? Hasn't he learned anything yet? Ah well…_ '

Jayce said, "Now, send it from the ring!"

Ash thought, ' _Well, it's certainly more novel than usual, however…' H_ e said, "Lucario, use Psychic," as Lucario began to move towards the edge of the field at a decent rate.

As Jayce exclaimed, " _What?!_ There's no way! Lucario can't…!" but cut himself short when he saw Lucario be surrounded by a red aura as its eyes glowed the same colour, stopping immediately, hovering in the air.

Jayce exclaimed, "But how?! Gallade is a…"

Ash said, "Jayce. Lucario is a fighting type and I am a frontier brain. Is it really _that_ unthinkable that I would come up with a way to deal with Psychic attacks."

"Well…yeah, sure. But Gallade's a psychic type, so any psychic type attack should be far and away stronger than something that some fighting type should be able to generate."

Lucario lowered itself to the ground and ash said, "Lucario, use Feint, into Drain Punch!"

Jayce said, "Gallade, focus and use Psychic!" but it did nothing and, when Lucario reappeared in front of Gallade, to his shock, Jayce saw that Lucario was still surrounded by the red aura just before she punched Gallade, her fist becoming surrounded by spiraling green and yellow energy that sucked the life points away from Gallade before sending it flying out of the field, knocking into the wall behind Jayce with swirls in its eyes.

Nurse Joy said, "Gallade is unable to battle! Jayce will return it to its pokéball and move to the seat behind the trainer box." Jayce looked at Gallade's prone form and growled angrily but did as he was told.

As he did, Lana quietly said, "Jayce…" looking at her brother as he walked to the seat.

She looked back at Ash, thinking, ' _So, I_ was _right then. With the ability to use Psychic to manipulate its body, and make use of another attack at the same time, It's no wonder that type advantages are useless against Lucario. However, my Scrafty doesn't know even a single Dark Type move other than Dark Pulse. Maybe I could draw Lucario in by using that repeatedly. Although, like he said, he_ is _a Frontier Brain, so he'll probably see right through it. Even then though, if I'm remembering right, Lucario in its base state is far faster than Scrafty anyway, given what it's done so far, that has only increased. Also, Scrafty's defence probably won't hold up either, given what it did to Gallade._ ' She sighed and said, "I give up," to the shock of everyone in the audience.

Jayce, was angry. He demanded, "What are you _doing_ , Lana?! How can you…?"

"Are you _serious_ , Jayce!?" Lana exclaimed.

"Of course! How can you just sit there and give up after what he did?"

"Jayce, Scrafty's defence _is_ good, there is no doubt about _that_. _But_ ," Lana pointed at Lucario, "that monstrosity's attack and speed are far too great to be able to take the fight to it!"

Ash said, "Congratulations Lana."

Jayce demanded, " _Why_ are you congratulating her? She just gave up like some weakling newbie!"

Ash sighed and said, "Jayce, fighting a losing battle is _very_ different to fighting an unwinnable one. What your sister just did was the mark of a true trainer. She analysed the situation with a calm mind and made the correct decision, putting the wellbeing her pokémon before her desire for victory."

Nurse Joy said, "With the withdrawal of Lana from the match, the victor is the Frontier Brain, Ash Ketchum."

Ash started walking towards the centre of the field.


	5. Ketchum Family Joy

Ash said, "Good job girl," rubbing Lucario's head. Lucario then joined him on his way to the centre of the field, where the two siblings were walking slowly towards, thinking on what they had seen Ash do with Lucario, realising exactly how far the gap was between them. Lana moreso than Jayce. When they got there, Ash said, "Well done you two."

"You mocking us, huh?" Jayce demanded.

"No. Not at all," Ash said. "The two of you showed more guts today than any of the trainers that have challenged me in the last…Hey May! When did Lester challenge me?"

May said, "That was at the start of last year," as she came over with Nurse Joy.

"Ah right," Ash said. He turned back to the twins and said, "Then."

"So…this Lester beat you then?"

"No," Ash said. "But he did try to do so using Ditto the second time he faced me."

Jayce said, "So then…we can challenge you again?"

"Yes. But, next time, if there is one, it'll be an official battle, so you'll need to earn it first. That said, Jayce, you have a _very_ long way to go before you can hope to even compete against Jaquelin. Quite frankly, Lana is far more qualified to try to scale the battle frontier. Speaking of which…" Ash said, turning to Lana. "Lana, can you please put out your hand for me?"

"Uhh…okay?" Lana half-asked, looking at Jayce apologetically.

Ash knelt down and covered her hand with both of his and Lana felt a strange draining sensation. When Ash moved his hands away, in her hand, was a pin that was made of a strange blue crystal that depicted a rock, a drop of water, and a jagged swirl, all appearing on the peaks of a triangle made of the strange crystal. Lana said, "Isn't this a…"

"It's not. It _is_ the symbol of my facility though and it will act as your pass to the battle frontier, if you choose to make use of it. Also, if ever you are in trouble, or need help, just show it to someone connected to a region's frontier. They'll do what they can, shy of fighting your battles for you."

Ash then turned and started to leave. Seeing Ash basically bestow honorary membership of the Battle Frontier on his sister, leaving him with nothing, Jayce called out, "Hey! What about me?"

Ash looked behind and said, "Drop the attitude and stop relying on your sister to make up all the battle plans. Until you do that, you have no hope of realising your ambition."

He then turned back and started walking away as May was quietly saying, " _Don't you think that was a bit harsh, Ash?"_

Ash sighed and said, " _Maybe, but he needs to learn it someday. I figure that it's better off if he learns_ that _lesson early on._ "

Jayce's eyes narrowed angrily as Ash walked away. Lana, seeing the look, said, "Jayce, I…"

Jayce looked away and said, "I'm going to beat the hell out of him!" and stormed off without another word. As he did, Lana had a cold feeling rush through her as she watched her brother walk off. She shook it off though and started walking away herself.

That was when Ash came rushing back and said, "Oh! Right! Lana. Sorry, you were going to tell me what you found so funny before the match, weren't you?"

"I was…" Lana grimaced and sighed at the memory. She said, "I _want_ to be a Nurse Joy. But before a prospective Joy can go to the academy, they need to find themselves a pokémon that can learn healing techniques and bond with it. Unfortunately, I've been through three regions now and I haven't been able to even come across _one_ that wasn't already partnered to a fully trained Nurse Joy, and there is a cut-off point that a Joy can enter the academy."

"I see. Hmm…" Ash said looking up and to the right, considering something. He said, "You know. I _might_ just be able to help you there…if you're willing that is."

"I'd really rather find one myself…but…what can you do about it, really?"

"Lucario can learn healing moves."

"Seriously!?" Lana exclaimed.

"Yes. Though this girl here doesn't know any, I left one back home that takes care of that when I'm travelling around."

"Uhh…no offence, but I'm not sure that a Lucario would meet the bill."

"I've no doubt," Ash said. "However…" he reached into his coat and held out a pokéball that was blue on the top, black on the bottom, separated by a yellow line with a red button and three white spikes pointing away from it, two on the blue hemisphere and one in the black. The hinge seemed, to Lana, to be made of the same crystal as her pin. "This guy here, is still just a Riolu. I was considering starting to train it whilst May and I are on our honeymoon, but I think that you'll be a better fit for it."

"Uhh…I…don't know what to say."

"Say yes," May said, hearing the last bit of their conversation. "You just saw how powerful a Lucario can become when it's trained right and, being a Joy, I've no doubt that you'll do that." May grinned and said, "Maybe even better than Ash here if Scrafty is any indication."

"Uhh…" Lana said, wanting to take it, but she sighed and said, "Sorry. I can't accept it," pushing Ash's hand away.

"Really?" Ash asked. "Why not? You clearly want to."

"I do…but you see, Jayce…"

Ash sighed and said, "Look. I know what I said, sounded…rather harsh…but it is a lesson that it took me quite some time to get into my head, and, because of that, I struggled quite a lot against the Final Frontier Brain when I was undertaking _my_ Frontier Challenge."

Lana sighed and said, "But…why didn't you just say that?"

"Jayce didn't seem the type that would listen to reason. That was evidenced enough by his reliance on you for the battle strategies that were being used in the match."

Shrugging and nodding, Lana said, "Jayce can be like that, yes," she sighed. "Alright. I will accept Riolu," holding her hand out. As Ash put it in her hand, she said, "Who knows, with him, I might even be able to become a Roving Nurse Joy, like Aunt Paige."

"Paige?" Ash said. "Oh, right. You said that your name was Lana _Frances_ Adele Joy. Didn't you?"

"That's right. Why? Is that strange?"

"If Paige is your aunt, that would make you and Jayce Marnie's children, wouldn't it?"

"That's right. Why? Oh! Come to think of it, she did tell Jayce 'n' I to tell you that she says 'Hi', before we came back from the pokécentre. Do you know her?"

"We've, uhh…met," Ash said, playing with his collar as May glared at him, already having come up with the same conclusion, based solely on the strategies that Lana had been coming up with during their battle. He said, "So, you should, uhh…probably go and see how Jayce is doing, huh?"

"Right!" Lana said, turning away and rushing off to see how her brother was doing, and, hopefully, settle the cold feeling that she had been unable to shake.

When Lana was gone, May said, "AAASSHH! Is there _something_ you've forgotten to tell me? Hmmmm?!"

Ash said, "Not…that I know of…May…calm down…" seeing the fire streaming from May's eyes that was normally reserved for those that got in the way of her and her food. "Look! We'll just go to the pokécentre and call her. That will settle things…" Ash thought ' _I hope._ '

When Ash and May got to the foyer, they found that the crowd had coalesced once again, so they both sat down behind the table that Ash had been sitting at before the battle and started taking more questions. As Ash answered a question about where Raichu was, May whispered, " _Just so you know, this isn't going to make me forget about it."_

" _I know May,"_ Ash whispered back as May fielded a question about her break from coordinating.

About two hours later, after all of the questions were done with, Ash and May stretched as they stood up and made their way to the pokécentre. When they were there, May basically dragged Ash into the communications room of the pokécentre. Ash, wanting to be let go, quickly dialled the number of the pokécentre in Floaroma Town. When the image of Marnie Joy appeared on the screen of the vidphone, Ash said, "Marnie," nodding his head in greeting.

"Ash!" Marnie exclaimed. "When Lana told me that she and Jayce were battling against you, I thought that I'd be getting a call."

"So, are they?" Ash asked.

"Are they what?" Marnie said in a knowing tone.

"Are they _mine_?"

"Yes," Marnie said, seeing no need to hide it.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Ash said, a strange look coming over him.

"And what would you have done if I did?"

"I could have taken up my title whenever I wanted Marnie."

Marnie sighed and said, "Would you have been satisfied with that?"

Ash sighed, knowing that there would have been at least some truth to her claim. He said, 'Even so."

She sighed again and said, "So, what did you think?"

"Jayce should give up. Quite frankly, Lana has more chances of becoming a Pokémon Master than him."

Jayce, hiding behind the arch of the pokécentre gasped at what he was hearing, the feeling that he'd been having since running off, getting worse.

Marnie sighed. She said, "Did you tell him that?"

"Not in so many words."

"I'll grant you that Lana does have more natural skill than Jayce, but he's not exactly a weak trainer. He _did_ come in eighth at the Alola League."

Ash sighed. "Raw skill can be overcome with hard work Marnie, but Jayce doesn't seem to possess the drive, or the will, in order to put in the hours that it needs to do so. As for his victories over Lana, if what I saw was any indication, his pokémon are stronger. That's all."

Marnie sighed and said, "You might have a point there. However…"

"I know. Lana told me that she wants to be a Nurse Joy, so, for her, coordinating is basically just for fun. Which is a problem in and of itself."

"I know," Marnie sighed. "She's been really distracted lately too, so she's not been putting in the effort that she used to either."

"I know. She told me."

"Really?!" Marnie said, blinking in astonishment. "I didn't think that she liked to talk about it."

"Apparently she doesn't, but I helped her out there."

"What do you mean?"

"I gave her one of my pokémon that I only just caught."

"What is it?"

"A Riolu."

"A…!" Marnie gasped, having heard about the relations between Riolu and Lucario and their trainers. "Why would you do _that_?! She can't…"

"She saw mine."

Marnie gasped, covering her mouth in shock, and fear. Jayce angrily ran off. She frowned and said, "You aren't going to try and convince her to give up her dream of being a Nurse Joy, are you?"

"Don't be absurd. All I've done is…inform her…that there are different paths, even for Nurse Joy."

"What do you mean?"

"I granted her access to the Battle Frontier."

"How could you!?" Marnie said. "Her pokémon are…"

"Nowhere near ready yet. I know. I told her that too." Marnie let out a sigh of relief. "In any case, she now knows that fully qualified Nurse Joy can be de facto judges for a Frontier Challenge."

"So then, she wants to be part of the Battle Frontier, like her father now, does she?" Marnie said, saddened she would need to find another assistant for the Floaroma Town Pokécentre.

"No. Actually, when I brought Riolu up, she said that with Lucario, she would be able to be a _Roving_ Nurse Joy, I think she called it?"

Marnie sighed and said, "Well, to be fair, I suppose that she did always like my sister's tales."

"Then it's all the more reason why she should take up that challenge."

Marnie sighed and said, "Maybe. But she's going to have to start her training next year, so…"

Ash sighed and said, "Well, to be fair, there's no actual time limit that the challenge needs to be done by, and the access pass that I gave her lets her request help from Frontier Officials if she ever needs it."

"I see. Well then, in that case…if it _ever_ changes, then I'll hop on over to the Hoenn Region and trounce you myself."

"Sure thing Marnie," Ash said with a smile.

"Before I go…just one more thing."

"What's that?"

"Don't endanger their lives. Please?"

Ash sighed and said, "I can't promise you that Marnie. You know that after everything I've done over the years I _do_ have enemies, and I can't control how they act. That said, in so far as I am able, I shall do my best to leave them out of it."

Marnie sighed and said, "I suppose that I'll just have to be content with that."

"Yeah. Well, I guess I'll be seeing you around then, huh?"

"I'm not sure how your new wife would take my coming around every so often."

"Why don't you ask her yourself?" Ash asked, motioning for May to step into sight of the camera.

May did so and said, "So, you're the floozy that Ash knocked up then, are you?"

Marnie grunted and her lips twitched downwards, but she sighed and said, "I suppose I probably deserve that."

"That and more, if you ask me," May said.

"I wouldn't go quite _that_ far. But just know this. I am happy that Ash has you in his life and won't get in your way. And, despite Jayce's attitude, and Lana's desire to know anything and everything about her father, she won't either. On top of that, I have made sure to convince them that their father was an itinerant trainer, trying to make waves in the pokémon world, whilst leaving out any mention of his name."

May sighed, the fire leaving her eyes. She sighed and said, "You don't have to do that. I suppose that even I can admit that I was overreacting there…" as she continued to talk with Marnie Joy, Ash slipped out, before going into the poketransfer room and dialling up his Frontier Facility. When he got a hold of someone, he said, "Hey, James. How are things there?"

"Everything is fine here," James said. "I put down a trainer from Blackthorn City yesterday. Why are you calling though?"

"I need you to send Mienshao over to me."

"Okay. Why? You barely got it a few weeks ago."

"I know. That's part of _why_ I want it."

"Oh? And the rest?"

"It hasn't been with me very long, so it hasn't developed too great a relationship with me, and I haven't really trained with it that much, so it is the perfect pokémon to pass on to the Nurse Joy of this town."

"To the…why are you doing that? Don't Nurse Joy in that region traditionally use Chansey?"

"Yes. But I had to replenish the aura of a pokémon about two hours ago, and Nurse Joy expressed an interest in learning the method, and Mienshao, despite the limited training, has the ability to manipulate aura to a very high degree for its species, so knows how to teach others to do the same."

"I see. I suppose that's fair."

"So, get on with it."

"Right!" James exclaimed before searching for the correct pokéball on the walls of the pokémon transfer room. Finding it, he put it into the transfer device and pressed 'send', switching it out with an empty pokéball that Ash had put in on his end.

"Thanks," Ash said when the transfer had been completed.

"Yeah. Sure thing. When will we be seeing you again?"

"When we're done, May will head on back, but I'll be staying on here for about another week or so. So I'll see you after that."

"Alright, so long then, Twerp."

Ash smirked and said, "Yeah, whatever," and cut the communication off.

XXXXX

After Jayce ran off, he rushed straight to his room and started angrily shoving things into his backpack. When he was done, he stormed back through the hallways of the pokécentre until he saw Lana coming towards him. He said, "Lana," in a gruff tone.

Lana asked, "Jayce? What's wrong?" concerned as that cold feeling was even more intense than it had been before.

"Don't worry about it."

"You saying 'that', _makes_ me concerned."

"You wouldn't believe me, even if I told you."

Jayce sighed and said, "You're better off not knowing, trust me," before walking off, leaving his sister more confused than ever. Though she was glad that the cold feeling had somewhat lessened."

When Jayce was at the foyer he went up to the nurse joy and said, "Hey, I'm going to check out now."

"Are you sure? It's already two o'clock, and out here it gets dark sooner than it does up there in Nimbasa City."

"Yeah. I'll be fine, I just can't stick around here."

"I see, then in that case, I hope to see you again," the nurse joy said in a happy tone, having just finished talking with Ash and setting up a schedule where she could train with the Mienshao that she had just received.

"Yeah, well I don't," Jayce said, no less surly than he had been with his sister. He then turned around and walked off. When he left he headed west towards Route 4.

XXXXXXX

A/N

This story will pick up after Lana leaves the Nurse Joy Academy in Ketchum Family Joy, following Lana on her quest to conquer the Battle Frontier. This is because this was always intended to be Lana's story, but, as I wrote it, it somehow transformed into Ash's.


End file.
